Growing number of female members find camaraderie, community and leadership opportunities with other hobbyists in a woodworkers association formerly dominated by men
Genial banter and easy camaraderie permeated the room as several dozen members of the San Diego Fine Woodworkers Association temporarily broke away from their projects at the members workshop, located in Sorrento Valley. It was early November, and members had gathered in a central room to discuss their current efforts, all to be offered to the public later in the month at the group’s annual holiday gift sale.
Their beautifully crafted work included cutting and game boards, turned bowls, trays and lidded boxes of all sizes, wine bottle and wine glass racks, holiday and home decor, jewelry and pens, as well as furniture, sculpture and wall art, their craftsmanship limited only by their creativity. For 2022, members created and donated about 1,500 items for the sale, most made at the members’ shop during weekly build sessions for the holiday gifts.
Jennifer Young affixes a clamp to wood pieces to stabilize them during a stint at the San Diego Fine Woodworkers Association workshop. Like many members, including most of the women interviewed for this story, she took classes at Palomar College, which she describes as “the gold standard” for woodworking education.
Among those who learned about the woodworkers association shop from Sykora was Oi Ling Kwan, a fellow Rancho Bernardo resident who retired from UCSD Medical Center as a cardiology department manager and technical director. She, too, has long enjoyed doing handcrafts, particularly knitting and crocheting.
“Initially, Oi Ling was scared to death of power tools. We taught her how to operate the tools — safety is paramount — she made her first cut. She was very apprehensive, but it came out perfect,” Anderson said. “She beamed.”“Gary said relax and go with the flow on the bandsaw. I got hooked, and that was it,” she said.
Jacobson, a woodworker for about 25 years, recently completed a ukulele that she made “mostly in class at Palomar.” She finished it with the luthiers, a shop special interest group that focuses on making stringed instruments.Jacobson, in turn, recruited her La Jolla neighbor Darcy Siegel, a mechanical engineer and woodworker, after she noticed Siegel’s home shop.
Kirsten Clark of Point Loma left her media job during the pandemic. She took up woodworking when she decided to make something to sleep on in her backyard. She designed a sofa from a YouTube class before taking the introductory class at the shop, followed by classes at Palomar. Although Clark, 51, has been woodworking only a year and a half, she said she’s learning as much as she can and hopes to eventually develop a business.
SDFWA, now the largest woodworking guild in the U.S., blossomed as a nonprofit, organizing the annual exhibition at the county fair and community service programs while also providing a wide range of educational programs, tours and a newsletter for its members. The association peaked at 1,690 members in 1999 and is now about 1,100 members.
Finally, after completing their operating plans, they opened their dream shop in June 2017, with 3,000 square feet and 125 members signing up for shop privileges, and classes starting soon afterward.
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